


by his side

by leop1ka



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Angst, Angst and Feels, Comfort, Comfort/Angst, Councilman Sokka, False Accusations, Kissing, M/M, Vulnerability, post the events of the animated series, very brief mention of homophobia, zukka - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-31
Updated: 2020-07-31
Packaged: 2021-03-06 05:47:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 879
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25628446
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/leop1ka/pseuds/leop1ka
Summary: when zuko's reputation is called into question, sokka is there to comfort him.
Relationships: Sokka/Zuko (Avatar)
Comments: 4
Kudos: 114





	by his side

"honey, i'm HOOOMEEEE!"

no response came from zuko, which was unusual since he always welcomed sokka when he came home.

sokka closed the door, a confused look on his face. he kneeled down to untie his shoes.

_was zuko not home?_

"zuko? are you here?" he tried again.

sokka once again, didn't get a response.

the councilman started walking towards the kitchen, getting rid of his wolf's tail, hair now freely falling down his broad shoulders.

_where is he?_

he reached the kitchen and smiled when he saw zuko's figure next to the kitchen counter.

_there he is, nothing to worry about! he probably didn't hear you._

"there you are!" he said, stepping forward to embrace him, a grin forming on his face. "i thought you weren't home, you didn't greet me like you usually do."

his husband's black hair was in a messy bun, a few strands framing his face. zuko's hands were on both sides of the counter, head down. he didn't seem to sense sokka's presence.

sokka stopped.

something was off.

the councilman's happy mood suddenly turned sour.

"zuko? honey?" sokka said quietly, reaching forward and putting a hand on zuko's shoulder.

zuko jumped and turned around.

"sokka, honey, hi! sorry, i was... thinking." he said quickly, pecking his husband on the lips.

zuko looked nervous, maybe even scared.

sokka's eyebrows narrowed.

"is everything alright?" he asked.

their eyes met.

zuko drew a sharp breath and looked down.

sokka gently put his hands on the sides of zuko's face and lifted it, so he could look at him.

the sunlight coming from the open windows was shining on zuko's face, the soft glow illuminating his husband's features.

_he looked beautiful._

zuko's hands enveloped sokka's.

"tell me what happened." sokka said, kissing his forehead.

zuko sighed and buried his face in sokka's chest.

his husband's muscular arms embraced his waist.

"my father's supporters, they..."

sokka put his head on top of zuko's.

"what about them?"

zuko sighed again and the non-bender felt zuko's hands tightening their grip on his shirt.

"they claim they have footage of me saying that...sokka, i-"

"tell me, zuko." sokka replied.

"that non-benders were...inferior to benders and should be... exterminated."

after sokka didn't reply, zuko continued.

"the paparazzi are having a field day with this, as you can imagine. the people who accused me of saying these...these disgusting things are spreading lies about me, as we speak. i've arranged a public appearance tommorow, where, hopefully, i can defend myself and end these... outrageous accusations."

"that's good."

zuko looked up at sokka, who was already looking at him.

"please don't tell me you believe this."

"of course not. i'm just...i'm just shocked, i guess." sokka muttered.

"yeah...me too."

the couple were silent after that, still embraced.

"does aang know about this?" sokka broke the silence.

"yes. he promised he would be there tommorow, to help me clear up things."

"good, that's good. toph?"

zuko slightly chuckled against sokka's chest.

"you should have heard her. she was swearing so much, i just hope lin wasn't around to hear her."

sokka snorted.

"she will be there tomorrow, though, with aang. i think she's going to be bringing a couple of her officers, and suki said she would bring the kyoshi warriors, in case someone tries to...attack me."

"oh." sokka responded.

his heart ached for zuko, he didn't deserve this.

_why did they do this to him? why him?_

sokka thought about their relationship.

they got married in secret, the only people invited were aang, katara, toph, suki and hakoda.

iroh was supposed to attend, but he passed away a week before the wedding. zuko was devastated but, despite sokka's protests, insisted they should continue on with the wedding.

and looking back on it now, sokka felt like iroh would have wanted them to still get married. he wouldn't want them to sacrifice their happiness because of him.

and they _did_ get married, which was the happiest day of sokka's life.

nobody else knew about their marriage besides their friends and sokka's father, and they tried hard to keep it that way.

what would happen if someone found out? if their relationship, their _marriage_ was revealed to the public? sure, there are plenty of accepting people, but zuko's reputation and his, would be... tainted. they would be attacked, insulted, _threatened._

sokka closed his eyes.

_don't think about that. don't. stop it, sokka. stop._

"what about my sister?" he said, trying to think about something else.

"she said she would be there."

"i will too."

zuko suddenly looked up at him.

"what? no, you don't have to, you're too busy-"

"aang is the avatar, toph is chief of police, katara is taking care of three children and travelling back and forth, suki is busy with the kyoshi warriors, yet all of them will be there to support you tommorow. myself included. i'm not going to let some councilman _bullshit_ stop me from being by my husband's side."

zuko's mouth opened and closed.

"i love you. so much." he finally said, a broken sob escaping him.

he kissed sokka.

sokka smiled against zuko's lips.

"i love you too." he whispered.

whatever happened tommorow, he knew one thing.

_he would be by zuko's side._

**Author's Note:**

> apologies for any grammar mistakes, english isn't my first language, but nonetheless i hope you enjoyed it!


End file.
